....The Next Generation?

So, I guess it would be good to start with who and why…

As a noob in my industry, I would watch in awe as the commercial guys would bowl into our building like they owned the place, bringing with them a welcome blast of Blighty to the little Polish back-wood where I then found myself.  All of them were larger than life characters, swashbuckling ‘road-warriors’ as Richard Quest of CNN fame would call them, (although that epithet belonged to Mad Max without question, as far as I was concerned).  I would sit on the periphery as they recounted stories of their time on the road, whom they’d encountered, how much it had cost them (or rather, how much it had cost the company) and for how long each of the parties involved had been unable to walk straight after the event.

For as long as I could remember, I’d wanted to be able to travel on business and some 5 years after the career change that catapulted me into the clouds for the first time, I finally feel I can officially call myself a frequent flyer, although I’ve certainly not reached the heady heights of those guys who so inspired me nearly ten years ago.   In fact, it’s mainly thanks to two of these characters that I sit here writing this. Messrs. Anthony Smith-Chaigneau and Richard J. Smith had penned the tome Please Step Aside, I'm A Frequent Flyer, which even as a rookie already spoke to me in so many ways.  What I aim to do with this blog is to pick up their baton (and hopefully, they won’t see it as me, through gritted teeth, growling: “Give. Me. That. F***ing. BATON!”), and add my tales to those they have already so eloquently documented.

You see, unlike those (no names mentioned) who have been there, done that and received the complimentary ergonomic wrap-around neck cushion and travel socks combo, I haven’t yet enjoyed the pleasures of a ‘double-upgrade’ to First Class; my Star Alliance card is merely Silver, not Gold, or Platinum, or Graphite, or whatever.  I have not been whisked to or from the apron in a chauffeur-driven limo and I still get frowned at by the people on the right-hand side of the Business & Upper class lounge lobbies.  But my time will come.  And unlike those other bloggers out there, I’m taking you with me…

It will be you that I gurn at when I get that upgrade to Business for no reason whatsoever, you with whom I share photos of my food, my champagne, my particularly pert Cabin Attendant (Hi Jose!).  And it will be you whom I turn to for consolation when I’m delayed. Or my luggage goes missing. Again. (And finally turns up in Frankfurt having missed its connection, despite the nice but ever-so-slightly illiterate ground staff at SFO telling me that it had definitely arrived and must have been picked up by another passenger by mistake…)

[…and breathe]

I am, and this is, Frequent Flyer 2: The Next Generation.  I am Jean-Luc Picard (Beverly! PLEASE!), to my mentors’ Kirk and Spock (I’ll leave them to fight over who’s who, but those of you who know them, feel free to share your thoughts!).  I want to share with you the highs and lows (although mainly highs, let’s be fair. Life’s for living, however vicariously, right?).

Thanks for reading this first epistle.  I hope you’ll stay with me.

Have plenty.

M